The present invention relates generally to the field of speech recognition and more specifically to the use of speech recognition to enter a flight plan into an aircraft navigation system.
Recent advances in navigation devices for General Aviation (GA) aircraft have allowed these devices to convey a great deal of valuable information to the pilot. These devices share a common weakness, however, in their ability to accept detailed information back from the pilot. This weakness is particularly acute with regard to the entry of waypoints for a typical instrument flight plan.
In typical current designs, panel space restrictions have forced avionics designers to use concentric knobs for waypoint identifier entry. Current procedures for entering a flight plan entail rotating a knob through the entire alpha-numeric alphabet for each character in each waypoint. For complex flight plans, such procedures are cumbersome and time consuming and significantly interfere with the pilot's need to scan instrument gauges, maintain visual separation from other aircraft, and attend to other critical tasks.
Opportunities exist, therefore, to improve safety and efficiency in the piloting of GA aircraft by providing a speech recognition interface for entering a flight plan into the aircraft navigation system.